1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular air conditioner that discharges conditioned air for ventilation toward a front seat and a back seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the above kinds of conventional vehicular air conditioners is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-71748. As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicular air conditioner 100 includes an air conditioner case 103 incorporating a heater core 102 and an evaporator 101 which adjusts conditioned air to a predetermined temperature. The air conditioner case 103 is formed with a defroster opening 104 which introduces conditioned air to be discharged toward a front window glass of the vehicle, a front seat center vent opening 105 (shown in FIG. 2) which introduces conditioned air to be discharged toward an upper half of a body of a passenger on a front seat, and a pair of front seat side vent openings 106 which introduces conditioned air to be discharged toward the upper half of the body of the passenger on the front seat or a side window glass of the vehicle. The air conditioner case 103 is also formed with a back seat vent opening 107 which introduces conditioned air to be discharged toward an upper half of a body of a passenger on the back seat, and a foot opening 108 which introduces conditioned air to be discharged toward a lower half of the body of the passenger on the front seat. By a partitioning plate 109, each front seat side vent opening 106 is divided into a door opening/closing opening 106a which is opened and closed by a foot vent switching door 112, and a regular-opening 106b which is regularly opened irrespective of opening or closing of the foot vent switching door 112.
A mix door 110, a defroster door 111 and a foot vent switching door 112 are provided in the air conditioner case 103. The mix door 110 adjusts a ratio of conditioned air to be sent to the heater core 102 and conditioned air which bypasses the heater core 102. The defroster door 111 opens and closes the defroster opening 104. The foot vent switching door 112 opens and closes the front seat center vent opening 105, the door opening/closing opening 106a of the front seat side vent opening 106, the back seat vent opening 107, and the foot opening 108.
The front seat side vent opening 106 is partially formed with a back seat auxiliary vent opening 114 by a projecting guide wall 113. The back seat auxiliary vent opening 114 is in communication with a back seat vent blowout opening.
According to this structure, the foot opening 108 is fully opened in a vent fully-closed position (position shown in FIG. 1) of the foot vent switching door 112. Therefore, conditioned air is discharged into a passenger room from a foot blowout opening (not shown). Since the regular-opening 106b of the front seat side vent opening 106 is not closed even at the vent fully-closed position of the foot vent switching door 112, a portion of the conditioned air is discharged into the passenger room from the front seat side vent blowout opening (not shown). That is, conditioned air is discharged from the side vent blowout opening in all of air conditioning modes. This prevents fogging on a side window glass of the vehicle in a cold climate.
In the foot fully-closed position of the foot vent switching door 112, the front seat center vent opening 105, the front seat side vent opening 106 and the back seat vent opening 107 are fully opened. Therefore, conditioned air is discharged into the passenger room from vent blowout openings (not shown) of a front seat center vent, a front seat side vent and a back seat vent. Here, a portion of the conditioned air introduced into the front seat side vent opening 106 is introduced into the back seat vent opening 107 from the back seat auxiliary vent opening 114, and an amount of air flowing from the back seat vent blowout opening (not shown) is increased. A passage distance from the back seat vent opening 107 to the back seat vent blowout opening (not shown) is longer than each passage distance of vent on the front seat, and air blowing resistance on the side of the back seat vent is high. Therefore, a volume of air which is in proportion to an area of the opening like the front seat vent cannot be obtained. On the other hand, if the opening area of the back seat vent opening 107 is merely widened, the air conditioner is increased in size. Hence, the back seat auxiliary vent opening 114 is formed in the front seat side vent opening 106, and the volume of air being discharged from the back seat vent blowout opening (not shown) is increased without merely increasing the opening area of the back seat vent opening 107 in the longitudinal direction or widthwise direction of the vehicle.
However, according to the conventional vehicular air conditioner 100, the front seat center vent opening 105 and the front seat side vent opening 106 are disposed in a side-by-side configuration, and the back seat vent opening 107 is disposed around this side-by-side configuration. Therefore, opening areas of the front seat center vent opening 105 and the front seat side vent opening 106 are relatively reduced.
That is, it is required that the front seat center vent opening 105 and the front seat side vent opening 106 are disposed at locations into which cool air enters substantially straightly. However, since the back seat vent opening 107 is also disposed at this desired location, opening areas of the front seat center vent opening 105 and the front seat side vent opening 106 are relatively reduced. If the opening areas of the front seat center vent opening 105 and the front seat side vent opening 106 are reduced, there is a problem that air blowing volumes to the front seat center vent opening 105 and the front seat side vent opening 106 are also reduced. Especially in the above conventional example, since a portion of the front seat side vent opening 106 functions as the back seat auxiliary vent opening 114, the air blowing volume to the front seat side vent opening 106 is further reduced.
If the back seat vent opening 107 is disposed at arbitrary location where an air mix area is desired, conditioned air into which air is not sufficiently mixed is taken in.